Pasquarelli: Rams scouts "becoming increasingly convinced" Suh is BPA

[Nick]

Leaning toward Suh

There is still more than two months before the draft, and St. Louis Rams general manager Billy Devaney isn't tipping his hand as to how he will use the top overall choice in the lottery. But Rams scouts are becoming increasingly convinced that Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is the best player available, in a relatively close call with Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. Not only is Suh viewed as a potentially dominant inside player, but it's also felt that he will improve the productivity of two other defensive lineman selected by the Rams in the first rounds of recent drafts, tackle Adam Carriker (2007) and end Chris Long (2008).

Courtesy of Pasquarelli's Friday Tip Sheet.

[sosa39rams]

YES! this is what i wanted to happen

[Nick_Weasel]

How much time to Suh and Carriker spend on the field together unless Carriker is going to be used as a NT? I thought that experiment was over.

[AvengerRam]

The Rams defense (like Spags' Giants defense) does not use the NT/UT designations. Rather, they simply designate the DTs as "left" and "right."

That said, it seems to me that Carriker would be pretty far down in the inital depth chart at DT if the Rams take Suh. At a minimum, I'd think Ryan and Scott would be ahead of him.

Some have proposed that Carriker be tried at DE. I doubt that would be the plan, as he really projects more as a 4-3 DT or 3-4 DE than a 4-3 DE.

[rams_man13]

I wouldn't mind him as a rotational DT and a DE on run downs (assuming we take a pass rusher across from Long and not a balanced DE).

[TheRammer]

I think this off Season Carriker could get in shape and speed up for DE and resume his old college spot in the 4-3.
I'd love to see our starting D-Line come spring and preseason look like this...
Starting Line Up
DT: Ndamukong Suh, Clifton Ryan DE: Adam Carriker, Chris Long

Rotational Guys
DT: Scott and someone else DE: Leonard Little, James Hall

[Nick]

I think this off Season Carriker could get in shape and speed up for DE and resume his old college spot in the 4-3.

Two things.

One, you say you think Carriker could "get in shape" in order to play DE. The problem isn't that the guy is out of shape. He's simply a big guy. He's never going to be a 260-270 pound fast edge rusher; that's just not who he is. He came into the combine @ 296 pounds, and that was before the Rams asked him to add weight in order to play the nose tackle position. It's going to be pretty tough for Carriker to drop that kind of weight without losing some strength in the process, and he simply isn't the kind of athlete to be a quick rusher off the edge at his size.

Two, the defensive end position Carriker played in college was not similar to a defensive end position in a 4-3 scheme. Calling it his old college spot is inaccurate, and is probably based more on the position he was listed at rather than the actual responsibilities he had.

Quoting Nick Wagoner from an article when Carriker was drafted, "At 6’6, 308 pounds, Carriker spent most of his college career playing the “Base” end in Nebraska’s defensive scheme. In that scheme, Carriker was technically an end but where he lined up in relation to the offensive line was the equivalent of where he would lineup as a defensive tackle in the NFL."

There's a reason nearly every analysis or scouting report on Carriker when he was coming out envisioned a shift inside to tackle if he was taken by a 4-3 team. He's simply not a good fit on the outside on a four man alignment. Maybe you can shift him out there situationally to stop the run, but his main home in the 4-3 is at tackle.

[Dr. Defense]

Does anyone have the stats on Carriker from his days at Nebraska for when he was playing with Suh vs playing without Suh. I'd be interested to see if Carriker's production went up. Makes me think that you pair two former college teammates together, you could really get some production out of that line.

[PeoriaRam]

Does anyone have the stats on Carriker from his days at Nebraska for when he was playing with Suh vs playing without Suh. I'd be interested to see if Carriker's production went up. Makes me think that you pair two former college teammates together, you could really get some production out of that line.

Considering that Suh was a medical redshirt Freshman and therefore a backup during Carriker's Senior year, I'm not sure there's enough statistical data from which to draw any conclusions.